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Cooler (Dragon Ball)
"It is I who decides who lives and who dies! All living things are mere playthings to me! No one can comprehend my power and cunning!"- "Cooler's Revenge" Cooler is a character and main villain in the fifth and sixth movies of the anime Dragon Ball Z. He is the older brother of Frieza, and the eldest son of King Cold. Like the rest of his family, he is also shown to be involved in the World Trade Organization. Much like his brother, he can push his body through transformations to increase his power. Although only two forms are seen (the last two), it is stated in the fifth film that Cooler possesses the same number of forms Frieza does, as well as a fifth and more powerful form, which he uses to combat Goku. Also like his brother, Cooler gains a bio mechanical final form after merging with the Big Gete Star. Cooler was designed by Akira Toriyama, the original manga author, for Toei's theatrical production (and later adapted as needed for future appearances). Toriyama's designs can be seen in Dragon Ball Daizenshuu #6. Name pun Like his brother and father, Cooler's name is a pun on all things relating to the cold. As both Cooler's and Frieza's names end in a short "a" vowel (rather than the long "ā''" which usually signifies "er" in kana spellings on English words), Frieza's name is typically spelled with an "a" at the end (as opposed to "Freezer"). Logic would follow that the character's name should in turn be spelled in a similar fashion (as opposed to "Cooler"). Note that Funimation Entertainment, the company responsible for ''Dragon Ball's production and distribution in North America and Australia, chooses to spell the name as Cooler (and Freeza as Frieza). Most fans choose the spellings Cooler and Frieza as opposed to the other spellings. It might also be a pun on him being more composed and serious than his brother ergo a "cooler" Frieza Species The name of Cooler's species is never revealed in the anime, manga, or movies. Due to their ability to change forms, they are often referred to by fans as "Changelings". However, it should also be noted that there is never any hint given as to whether King Cold was able to transform. If not, then his shown form would be his "true" form (being his only one) which would suggest the transformations are unique to his sons. (The only person who might be able to clear all of this up would be author Akira Toriyama himself). Cooler's Armored Squadron ‎ Not unlike the mercenary Ginyu Force (right down to the vapid posing) called upon by Frieza on Planet Namek, Cooler's Armored Squadron compose the elder brother's own special fighting team. These three warriors serve as Cooler's subordinates throughout the course of the fifth film. Their dress is the customary garb of soldiers in Frieza's military; an extended length of armor juts from their left shoulder, while the uniforms themselves are in Cooler's primary colors of purple and white, they are shown to have a habit of blocking or reflecting Ki Blasts rather than dodging them, this habit causes Dore to be killed when he tried to block a blast more powerful than he could handle. Unlike the Ginyu Force, they appear to be more serious, with their posing being more limited (as Cooler might not be as tolerant of it as his brother Frieza) and less awkward than the Ginyu Force's Special Fighting Poses. Their team is also stronger than the Ginyu Force, in their greater willingness to work together, more serious attitude, and greater power levels than the Ginyu Force. This is shown when they almost effortlessly gain an advantage fighting Goku when they all fought him at once. This makes them more dangerous than the Ginyu Force, despite their lesser numbers. (The Ginyu Force's five to the Armored Squadron's three.) Their lesser numbers may be due to Cooler's more hands-on approach to galactic conquest, in contrast to Frieza, who generally preferred to allow his men to carry out his will. Akin to all Dragon Ball characters, the henchmen's names are derived from puns - in this case, condiments and salad dressings. Nevertheless, all three were killed by Piccolo, who defeated all of them without effort (Though Salza was more of a challenge). * Salza (サウザー Sauzaa; pun on Thousand Island dressing, "Sauzando Airando"): Blue skinned "pretty-boy" alien with blonde hair; Cooler's right-hand man. He is able to slice through objects using a blade of ki formed in his right hand and very similar to Zarbon in appearance. * Neiz (ネイズ Neizu; pun on "mayonnaise"): Tall, brown reptilian creature who can retract the whole of his head into his body. He can fire an electrical attack that can immobilize his opponents. * Doore (ドーレ Dōre; derived from saradore (salad dressing): Long-haired and vaguely reminiscent of The Hulk, never seen without his helmet. It is also worth noting that Akira Toriyama also provided the character designs for these characters, as seen in the sixth Dragon Ball Daizenshuu. Interestingly, the Armored Squadron's insignia resembles Cooler's head in his fifth form. Cooler's has two groups of henchmen in movie 6, his Cyclopian Guards and of course his Meta-Cooler clones. It should also be noted that the gete in the Big Gete Star comes from getemono, which roughly means "cobbled together". Storyline DBZ Movie 5: Cooler's Revenge While Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta, the home planet of the Saiyans, a newly-born Kakarot (Goku) was being sent to subjugate Earth. Seeing that Goku had escaped the explosion, Cooler's henchmen made plans to shoot the capsule down. Cooler belayed that order, lamenting that his brother was still far too soft to allow a child's escape and that Frieza's conceit would delay the annihilation of the Saiyan race and jeopardize his family's absolute control over the galaxy (well, that, and also the fact that he had seven planets to conquer/destroy by the end of the day on the version, thus making him too busy to carry out the order anyways). Also, as Goku was only an infant at the time, he didn't believe him to be any threat. Twenty-five years later, Cooler got word that his brother had been killed... by a Saiyan. Initially skeptical, he soon comes to believe it, and heads to Earth to avenge Frieza's death; however, he has no compassion for his brother and only desires to do so to restore his family honor. Upon arriving, he had his henchmen found a Saiyan, who turned out to be Goku. He succeeds in mortally wounding him in a shot intended for Gohan, but loses sight of his quarry after he is washed down a waterfall. Not content to blow up the planet - being too proud and eager to smite the one who injured his family name - Cooler goes to some lengths to have him tracked down. With all three of his henchmen defeated by Piccolo, He finally enters the battle himself and easily beats Piccolo before facing Goku. Goku, revived by consuming a Senzu (thus powering him up due to his Saiyan heritage) and Cooler are a fairly even match (too much even for Cooler's tastes), so he honors Goku by showing him his ultimate transformation. He increases dramatically in size, speed, and strength; four horns grow to form a crown atop his head as spikes form on his forearms, and he now sports a facemask of sorts, hiding all facial features except his eyes, which are now red and pupils. ‎ Cooler is able to easily overpower Goku in this form, until at length he grows tired of the fight and feels Frieza had further shamed his family by dying at Goku's hand. As he makes plans to destroy the planet, Goku's rage transcends, transforming him into a Super Saiyan. Off-guard and arrogant, Cooler is batted around easily, and then he realizes how Frieza lost to Goku. He gathers enough energy to form a large orange sun-like attack (the same attack Frieza used to destroy Planet Vegeta and to try and kill Future Trunks) that he hopes will not only be enough to obliterate his opponent, but the Earth along with him. But with a Kamehameha, Goku is able to offset his attack and send Cooler hurling into the Sun. It was then that Cooler realized that Goku was the Saiyan he had allowed to escape so many years ago, and that in scolding his brother and not lifting a finger he had been far too soft himself. After this, Cooler incinerates and dies in the sun. DBZ Movie 6: Return of Cooler Cooler's remains float around in space and eventually fuse with the Big Gete Star. The Big Gete Star revives Cooler and Cooler proceeds to take over it. He set a course for New Namek, intent on draining the planet and using the Namekians there as fuel. Dende called to Earth's warriors for help; Goku, Gohan, and Piccolo, as well as Krillin, Master Roshi, Oolong, and Yajirobe, traveled there to assist. Upon arriving, they find many Cyclopian Guards, as well as the revived Meta-Cooler, now in a wholly metallic and enhanced body. Stronger than ever, he is able to easily repel Goku even as a Super Saiyan, and had it not been for the unlikely appearance of Vegeta, Goku might have been killed. Even the two Super Saiyans ran into difficulty handling Meta-Cooler; the nano-machines that made up his body would instantly detect and repair any defect, and make it so that defect would no longer hinder the "new-and-improved" version. Only by working together in a joint attack would Meta-Cooler finally be destroyed. , made by what little remains of the organic Cooler.]] However, the Big Gete Star housed not one Cooler, but hundreds, if not thousands. Goku and Vegeta had no chance of beating them all, and are absorbed by the Star itself, where they find the brains behind it all, the actual Cooler - an obscene and grinning head split with one remaining eye, strung up by wires and sheets of metal. All Meta-Coolers seen previously were under remote control, and the machine itself formed Cooler's true body. He plots to drain Goku and Vegeta of all their energy for his own purposes, saying "Oh, the exquiste agony!" and laughing maniacaly. But their power is too much and begins to overload the capacity of his systems. The Saiyans then flood the Big Gete Star with energy, causing it to crumble and his remote-controlled dolls to self-destruct, while Cooler starts to lose his hold on the planet. Sickened by such "scum" yet again foiling his plans, Cooler fashions a final body from what's left of his organic self, intending to throttle Goku in wires. Even to this end Cooler believes victory is inevitable, and his arrogance costs him his life as Vegeta shears off one of his mech arms, giving Goku time to destroy what's left of his body. With the "brain" gone, the Big Gete Star disintegrates over New Namek, with Vegeta crushing the original chip in his hand, ensuring that Cooler will never come back again. Powers and abilities Cooler possesses many of the same techniques as his brother, though often noticeably stronger. Very little of his individual techniques differ from that of Frieza. It is notable that he possesses an extra transformation. Although Frieza used his transformations to suppress his power, Cooler utilizes a way to actually enhance his power through transformation, developing a powerful, extra form. However, this form was still no match for the power of a Super Saiyan. Also, Cooler can power up his "Super Nova" attack faster than Frieza can thus making him much more dangerous. Additional appearances Cooler later makes cameo appearance in Dragon Ball GT, when all villains escape from Hell. He and with the rest of the villains are sent back to Hell shortly after. A phantom Cooler, along with what appears to be a resurrected Frieza, Turles, and Lord Slug, attack Goku and his friends in the OVA special (and later Playdia re-make) ''Gaiden: Saiya-jin Zetsumetsu Keikaku'''' (Side Story: The Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans)'' (an OVA was also released on VHS in August 1993), but these are merely false ghost-warriors meant to harass the heroes. (Interestingly this is the only time in anime that Cooler and Frieza are seen together as allies.) Video games Cooler makes several video game appearances. Cooler makes an appearance as a boss character in Dragon Ball Z III: Ressen Jinzō Ningen (Famicom) and DBZ: The Legacy of Goku II. He is also a playable character in several versus fighting games, including Budokai 3, Budokai Tenkaichi, Infinite World, Super Sonic Warriors 2, and Shin Budokai. He is also in Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and Budokai Tenkaichi 3 along with Sauza, with his base form, Transformation, and Meta-Cooler. In the game Super Sonic Warriors 2, Cooler gets his own story mode that can either follow a standard story line, or branch off into a few "what if" scenarios. In one scenario, Cooler and Frieza join forces to take over the Earth, which ultimately ends in Cooler killing his brother for treachery. In another scenario, Cooler revives Zarbon, Dodoria, and The Ginyu Force with the Dragon Balls and enlists them into his army. In this story line, he ultimately defeats a newly Perfected Cell, and (in a somewhat comedic ending) grudgingly agrees to take part in a large group pose with the Ginyu Force. Cooler also made an appearance as an alternate costume for Frieza in Dragon Ball Z 2 V, a special edition of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 given out in a contest through the Japanese magazine V-Jump. Power In movie 5, it was shown he was evenly matched with Goku in his base form. However, when he transformed into his 5th form, he far outclassed Goku even when he went Kaio-ken x20 (which made him at least equal to Frieza at 50% of his power, and presumably much stronger, as Goku at this point had already defeated Frieza and become stronger by an unknown degree since then) and lost only when Goku transformed into a Super Saiyan who dominated him and blasted him into the sun. Cooler revealed to Goku before his final transformation that Frieza was always trying to beat him at everything and that he would have killed him sooner had it not been for his father. This implies that Cooler could've easily killed Frieza before his confrontation with Goku. When he returned in Movie 6, his new form enabled him to not only keep up with Goku in his Super Saiyan form, but to completely outmatch him as well. Even with the appearance of Super Saiyan Vegeta, he still retained the upper hand. It took all the energy of them both to eliminate only one Meta Cooler. Special abilities * ''Ki'' Blast, the most basic form of energy wave. * Flight — Like almost all Dragon Ball Z characters, Cooler is able to fly through use of his ki. * Death Ball — A spark of ki that may grow to the size of a small moon. ** This was to be Cooler's trump card versus Goku, but his attack is blocked and he is subsequently pushed by the force of it and Goku's Kamehameha into the Sun. **The PlayStation 2 fighter Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 refers to Cooler's Death Ball as "Super Nova" to differentiate his variation from his brother's. * Transformation — An extra transformation Cooler learned to go beyond Frieza's. Originally, Cooler merely told Goku that he had one more transformation than Frieza. * Eye Laser — A small thin beam shot from both eyes. * Darkness Eye Beam - An attack similar to the Eye Laser but instead of going in a strait line, this attack moves in a horizontal direction. Named in the Tenkaichi series. * Telekinesis — Cooler can lift or move large objects through the air with his mind. A Meta-Cooler uses this ability to drive Goku through a mountain on New Namek. * Lock on Buster — An attack used in his metal form. Cooler focuses his energy into one point, then releases it into an invisible beam. It is one of his most powerful attacks. * Instant Transmission — A unique ability to teleport nearly anywhere. In FUNimation's English version Meta-Cooler claims it to be "one of his favorite moves". Originally he was surprised Goku knew the technique. * Cooler, like his brother, Frieza is able to survive even the most horrific injury, even decapitation and incineration. He can also survive in space. * Nano-regeneration - Any injury Meta-Cooler might suffer is instantly detected and repaired, and whatever flaws in his design that allowed the injury are corrected; thus, he cannot be harmed in the same way twice. Trivia * Cooler's final form bears a striking resemblance to The Shredder from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. * Cooler is said to be more powerful than his brother, and that is thoroughly possible. Interestingly, in the dub he claims that Frieza "always had the edge" until Cooler discovered his fifth transformation. Evidence for this is that he was roughly equal with Goku in his fourth form, whereas fourth-form Frieza could completely dominate base form Goku. * Cooler only mentions his father once, when in the English dub he exclaimed "father always spoiled you rotten, you little brat", in which he was showing his dislike for his brother. He seems to have no idea that a year or so prior to his arrival on Earth, King Cold and Frieza had actually been killed by Future Trunks not Goku. Of course, it is possible that this movie may have taken place in Future Trunks' time line, but that is very unlikely. It is likely that Cooler didn't know about Future Trunks killing King Cold and Frieza and that he believed Goku killed Frieza (and believes he killed King Cold as shown in The Legacy of Goku II. * In regards to his line of "King Cold always spoiling Frieza rotten.", it's interesting to note that his statement of Cold "spoiling" Frieza is slightly contradictory of his behavior towards him in the Trunks saga (eg, his criticizing Frieza at any moment he can get in regards to fighting him.), as well as the implied physical abuse that Cold gave him in the Frieza saga (My, my, you're the first person to actually inflict pain on my true form, well, besides my loving parents). * Cooler and Garlic Jr. are the only movie villains who appear in the anime since Garlic Jr. had his own saga and Cooler made a cameo out of Hell in Dragon Ball GT. * Meta-Cooler's expressions and design are comparable to Cell's last transformation. * In the The Return of Cooler, it's revealed that Cooler knows Instant Transmission, having learned it sometime before his attack on Earth (He uses the technique to escape the Earth's sun, but is reduced to a disembodied head). This means that he could sense ki, unlike his brother or father, as Instant Transmission teleports by homing in on a Ki signature. He may also be able to suppress his large ki-signature, since none of the Z Fighters where alerted to his presence (Both his brother and father were detected by the Z Fighters, even before their ship reached Earth's orbit). His being able to sense ki is supported by his not wearing a Scouter (Though he may not have been able to wear one anyways, like Guldo because he doesn't have any hinges/bumps near his eyes in the case of Guldo, his having four eyes hinders wearing a scouter.), and it may also explain how he was able to appear whenever his henchmen were in over their heads as well as being able to remain hidden the entire time from Piccolo and able to launch a surprise attack on him (For instance, in their encounter with [[Piccolo] during the events of Cooler's Revenge). * Interestingly, even though Cooler's head in Return of Cooler was that of his 4th form, his voice is that of his final form (This is probably because in movie 5, right before he was about to blow up in the sun, he reverted back to his fourth form). *Cooler is also one of the few Dragon Ball Z movie villains to not actually be finished off by Goku. Notable others are Garlic Jr., Bojack, and Bio-Broly (if one counts Gogeta as an entirely different character, then Janemba also counts as well, and if one says that Goku wasn't actually present in Second Coming, then Broly as well). In fact, he is also the only main movie villain that was finished off by Vegeta (While Goku did disembody Cooler, he was actually finished off by Vegeta because, by destroying the Gete Chip, he also killed Cooler). * Cooler has some similarities with General Rilldo. They are both voiced by Andrew Chandler in the Funimation dub, and they get a power-up through a metallic body (Cooler by becoming Metal Cooler and Rilldo by becoming a Machine Mutant). * He is the second most recurring movie main villain only behind Broly. * He has one more form than his brother (or at least as it is seen), that being his 5th. He is only seen in his 4th, 5th, and metal forms. * Both Cooler and Frieza take similar actions. Both torture Piccolo, Krillin and Gohan while Goku is injured, and were both winning, only to lose when Goku becomes a Super Saiyan. Also, they both end up reappearing with metallic body parts (Mecha Frieza and Meta Cooler). * According to Shonen Jump, Cooler is implied to have control of at least 256 planets, as Doore was stated as hailing from "Planet Coola no. 256." * In the fifth movie, before Cooler transforms, he tells Goku that he should be familiar with the "third transformation" that he is in, as that's as far as Frieza got and that he himself has ascended further, discovering a fourth form. (However, this was in the FUNimation Dub, so it may be a translation error). Voice actors * Japanese Dub: Ryusei Nakao * FUNimation Dub: Andrew Chandler * Latin American Dub: Ricardo Brust * German Dub: Peter Flechtner Category:Dragon Ball characters Category:Extraterrestrial supervillains Category:Anime and manga characters with superhuman strength Category:Anime and manga characters who can move at superhuman speeds Category:Anime and manga characters who can fly Category:Anime and manga characters who can teleport Category:Anime and manga martial artists Category:Fictional cyborgs Category:Fictional amputees Category:Fictional princes Category:Fictional emperors and empresses Category:Fictional warlords Category:Fictional dictators Category:Fictional burn victims Category:Fictional mass murderers Category:Fictional businesspeople Category:Fictional salespeople Category:Fictional private military members Category:Fictional shapeshifters Category:Fictional characters with telekinesis Category:Fictional characters who can manipulate energy Category:1991 introductions Category:Villains